Social Vulnerability of Historical City Centers: a Case Study in Leiria, Portugal

This article describes the study of the social vulnerability of historical city centers. Historical city centers have generally special characteristic in the social, structural, urban and cultural perspectives that make them highly valuable, but also vulnerable. This study applies a social vulnerability assessment methodology to the Historical Center of Leiria, thought a field work analyses and a survey, carried out to the population of the Historical Center and a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the results a social vulnerability index is estimated. This index is also a measurement of the prevention culture of this population before the potential occurrence of a disaster. Finally the obtained social vulnerability index is compared with a similar study made with the same methodology for the Sao Jorge castle hill in Lisbon. This kind of comparative studies, over similar places and over the time, allows the assessment of the social vulnerability evolution and even the design of campaigns to increase the prevention culture of the community.